What makes us human? It is our mental capacity for reason, morality, consciousness and our ability to feel emotions (manomaya) and wield our power of reason and intellect (buddhi). What makes us human is our brain (pre-frontal cortex) and its subtle counterpart, our thinking mind (chitta). Energetically we have energy centers or chakras associated with this anatomical structure called the Ajna Chakra and Sahasrara Chakra.
The Sahasrara Chakra or the crown chakra holds special significance in Yoga. From a spiritual perspective, this Chakra represents the goal of Yoga, Self-Realisation, where the individual soul unites with Cosmic Consciousness.
The Ajna chakra is the center for intuition or higher states of perception and awareness, associated closely with the pituitary gland.
As we study the anatomy of the brain, we learn how the anamaya kosha, the physical structures of the brain are stimulated by our emotions through the five senses of perceptions (the tanmatras). Emotions are dependent on our senses (the things that we see, touch, taste, hear..).
The limbic system is responsible for the control of emotions, memories and arousal of emotions. It is made up of the hypothalamus, amygdala, thalamus and the hippocampus;
The thalamus is a sensory relay station, conveying the inputs from our senses (the five tanmatras) to the appropriate areas in the cortex and the other areas in the brain.
The amygdala is the aggression center which on stimulation produces anger, violence, fear and anxiety, also known as the kleshas in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. In the sutras, Patanjali also lays down ways to overcome these kleshas through the reversal of these emotions to their positive counterparts (pratipaksha bhavanam) which is the field of neuroplasticity in modern science.
The hippocampus plays a key role in forming memories (smriti). It converts short term memories or impressions into long term memories leading to samskaras. Memories evoke emotions as well.
The role of the hypothalamus is crucial in regulating the autonomic nervous system also known as the fight or flight vs rest and digest response (or better known also as the sympathetic and parasympathetic Nervous System). It does this with the regulation of the endocrine system with the release and control of hormones like epinephrine and norepinephrine.
Apart from the limbic system we also have the cerebral hemispheres and the cerebral cortex that are instrumental in how we respond and react to stimulus. Studies show that left side of the cerebral hemisphere shows more activity with positive emotions and people with left side of brain tend to be more active, are more sociable and joyful as compared to the right side which shows more activity with negative emotions and people with right hemisphere more active are more fearful, isolated, timid and sometimes depressed.
An area in the brain known as the prefrontal cortex is responsible for many higher order functions of wise and educated discernment (buddhi).
In her book, Molecules of Emotion, molecular biologist and neuroscientist Candice Pert called the brain “a bag of hormones,” that affect not only the brain, but every aspect of the body and mind. She says that many memories are stored throughout the body, as changes in the structure of receptors at the cellular level. She calls the body “the unconscious mind!”. For those of you who may not know her, she was the first person to have discovered the opiate receptor, the cellular binding site for endorphins in the brain (the body’s natural form of morphine).
One of the key proponents in the field of PNI (psychoneuroimmunology), her work and that of her colleagues showed that a variety of proteins known as peptides (including endorphins) were among the body’s key “information substances” – and each of them could affect our mind, our emotions, our immune system, our digestion and other bodily functions simultaneously. Her work explains that peptides work to connect all aspects of body and mind in a network of shared information. It is these peptides that she calls as the molecules of emotion.
These emotion-modulating peptides cause physiological changes in the body during a stimulus to the sympathetic nervous system like an embarrassing thought can cause blood vessels to dilate and turn a face beet red. In the same way, these molecules of emotion can mobilize immune cells (NK cells) to destroy an incipient tumor. Techniques like meditation or visualization may also act as forces to set those molecules in action.
So we see how our emotions (the manomaya Kosha) relay information to parts of the brain, creating physiological responses (annamaya Kosha). Our prefrontal cortex (the area of intellectual discernment: buddhi), depending on how developed it is, helps make educated choices with our responses (vijnanamaya Kosha). Through our practice of meditation, breath work and asana we train our brain/mind to reach states of calm and bliss (anandamaya Kosha).
The Sahasrara chakra is often referred to as the thousand plus petal lotus, infinite which is symbolic of our unlimited potential. At the physical level or the level of annamaya kosha, we look at the brain and its functions and what we get is limited human potential. But as we move through our states of awareness, we harness or reach a level beyond the physical sheath to the higher sheaths or higher states of consciousness where brainpower is now super enhanced, higher insights and perceptions (super sensory or superhuman powers also known as siddhis) are made available. Until finally at the subtlest level of Anandamaya Kosha we realize our true limitless potential.
And that is the power or the importance of the sahasrara Chakra. It takes us on a journey of transcendence from being our ahamkara (ego), lower self to becoming or realizing Purusha (True Self/Higher Self).
-by Mitchelle Matharu